Southern California -- this just in

Mother stabbed to death; two children also feared dead

A mother missing for several days was found stabbed to death, but police said they are still searching for her two young children, who are also feared to be dead.

The body of 31-year-old Arlet Hernandez Contreras was found at the Los Angeles County morgue.

Homicide detectives contacted various coroner offices, asking if they had any unidentified female bodies, said Orange Police Sgt. Dan Adams. The Los Angeles County coroner's office responded. The case was being investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"Last night, it was confirmed that female's body is our adult victim," Adams said Saturday.

The body was originally found April 25 in the city of La Puente, Adams said.

Police are still looking for her two children, a 4-month-old and a 2-year-old.

Shazer Fernando Limas, 31, was arrested late Thursday after a long police chase and standoff that closed the 5 Freeway in northern San Diego County near the San Onofre nuclear plant.

Authorities began searching for Limas after managers found blood and other evidence at an apartment in Orange that he moved out of last month.

Trash from the apartment complex is dumped at a Brea landfill, which police searched Thursday night and early Friday.

"We wanted to check it in the event he had discarded the bodies," Adams said.

Evidence suggests that the mother and children were killed inside the apartment, possibly a week ago, police said.

Police said Limas, Hernandez and the children had shared the unit.

Neighbors, who asked not to be identified, said they heard loud music coming from the apartment between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the night the killings are thought to have occurred. They described Limas as "odd" and "not approachable."

Limas was arrested after a police spike strip disabled his car near the nuclear plant. He surrendered unarmed after an hourlong standoff.